Ancient Greece - Weebly

Ancient Greece

The Geography of Greece

The present-day country of Greece is located on the Balkan Peninsula in southern Europe. A peninsula is a piece of land mostly surrounded by water and connected to a larger part of land. The Balkan Peninsula is surrounded by three seas ? the Aegean Sea on the east, the Ionian Sea on the west, and the Mediterranean Sea on the south.

To the east of Greece, beyond the Aegean Sea, is a part of Asia called Asia Minor, or "Little Asia." Today the country of Turkey fills Asia Minor.

About 2,000 islands can be found in the seas all around Greece. One of the largest islands, Crete, lays southeast of Greece.

The southern part of Greece is called the Peloponnesus. The Ionian Sea and the Mediterranean Sea almost cut off the Peloponnesus from the rest of Greece. Only a small strip of land, or isthmus, keeps the Peloponnesus connected to the mainland of Greece.

The land of Greece is rocky and mountainous. In fact, nearly three-fourths of Greece is covered by mountains. Scattered

throughout this rugged land are valleys and small plains.

Long ago, the Balkan Peninsula and much of the land around it was home to the ancient Greeks. These early people farmed the rocky land and fished in the nearby seas.

The Balkan Peninsula

Review

CHECK UNDERSTANDING

1. What is a peninsula?

2. What are the three seas that surround Greece?

THINK CRITICALLY

3. How do you think the geography of Greece affected the people who lived there long ago?

SHOW WHAT YOU KNOW

Internet Search Activity: Write a list of five things that you would like to know about Greece and its geography. From this list, create key words that could help you do a search on the Internet.

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Early People of Greece

In 1899 an archaeologist named Arthur Evans discovered the ruins of an ancient palace on the island of Crete. Evans decided to call the civilization on Crete the Minoan civilization in honor of a king named Minos from a Greek myth. Today we still refer to the people of ancient Crete as Minoans.

People probably first settled in Crete about 7000 B.C. For a long time they lived in small farming communities. As the population on Crete grew, the communities grew into towns and cities.

The Minoans built their first palace around 1900 B.C. at the city of Knossos. This palace was more than three stories tall and had hundreds of rooms. The Minoans painted the palace walls with colorful scenes of plants, animals, and people. Palaces much like the one at Knossos but smaller were built at other cities around Crete. Each Minoan palace served as a center for government for the community.

Minoan palaces were also the centers for managing the economy of Crete. An economy is the way people in a place use

resources to meet their needs. Farmers brought natural resources such as olives and wool to the palaces. There the resources were stored and given out to people as needed. To keep track of the resources, the Minoans developed a system of writing.

The Minoans also traded their resources with people across the seas. They sailed to places as far away as Egypt in Africa and Syria in Southwest Asia. The Minoans traded pottery, wool, wine, and olive oil for tin, copper, and gold.

The Peloponnesus was one of many stopping places of Minoan trading ships. There the Minoans traded with the early people of the Greek mainland, now known as the Mycenaeans. The name Mycenaean comes from the ancient Greek city Mycenae.

The trade between the two groups of people made them aware of each other's culture. The Mycenaeans began to borrow many ideas from the Minoans including art, writing, and religious beliefs. The Mycenaeans adapted, or changed, what they borrowed to fit their own way of life.

Minoan Palace

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Like the Minoans the Mycenaeans built palaces. However, Mycenaean palaces were smaller and were surrounded by thick walls. The fact that the Mycenaeans needed to build walls suggests that they had to protect themselves from enemies.

About 1450 B.C. the Mycenaeans invaded Crete and took over the Minoan government. The Mycenaeans controlled Crete and the Peloponnesus for several hundred years. Then about 1100 B.C. the Mycenaean civilization weakened.

About four centuries later a poet named Homer wrote two epics about the lost Mycenaean culture. His epics were based on stories that had been told and retold about Mycenaeans.

Homer's first epic, the Iliad, tells of a war between the Mycenaeans and a people from Asia Minor. The Odyssey continues the story by telling the adventures of the hero Odysseus as he travels home from this war. Many people still read those poems to learn more about the ancient Greeks.

Early Greek Settlements

Review

CHECK UNDERSTANDING

1. How did the Minoans get their name? 2. What are two differences between the Minoans and the Mycenaeans? THINK CRITICALLY

3. Why do you think the Mycenaeans borrowed and then adapted much of the Minoan culture? SHOW WHAT YOU KNOW

Art Activity: With one or two classmates, find a picture of a Minoan wall painting in a book about the ancient Greeks. Using the picture as a guide, draw your own Minoan wall painting on a large sheet of posterboard. Color the drawing in with bright paint, crayons, or markers.

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Sparta

After the Mycenaean civilization weakened, the people went back to a simpler way of life. Then about 800 B.C. settlements and villages began to grow up again in Greece. In the southern Peloponnesus five small villages joined together to form a city-state. This city-state is now known as Sparta.

Sparta did not have enough natural resources to feed its growing population. To gain more farmland, the Spartans invaded other nearby communities. The people of these communities became helots, or slaves owned by the Spartan city-state.

Sparta had many more slaves than citizens. Fear of the slaves fighting for their freedom led the Spartans to adopt a war-like way of life.

At the age of seven, Spartan boys were sent to camps where they learned to be good soldiers. At these camps they were taught leadership skills and loyalty to the group. Most importantly, they learned never to give up during a battle. Most boys had to serve in the Spartan army until they were 60.

The lives of Spartan girls took a different path. When Spartan girls turned seven, they studied gymnastics and running. Like Spartan boys, the girls were training for

their role in life. Spartan girls were taught at an early age that their main job was to raise strong children.

Spartan women had more rights than women in other Greek city-states. For example, they were allowed to own property. However, Spartan women were not allowed to take part in the government.

Sparta had two kings who served as generals. These kings were part of a 30member council. The council helped decide Sparta's laws. The members of Sparta's council were elected by an assembly, or a group of people. All male Spartan citizens over the age of 30 could be part of the assembly.

The Spartan government had strict control over its citizens' lives. Spartan laws told people how to cut their hair, when they could be married, and whether to have children.

Review

CHECK UNDERSTANDING

1. What training were Spartan boys given? What training were Spartan girls given?

THINK CRITICALLY

2. Why do you think Spartan boys were taught to never give up in battle?

SHOW WHAT YOU KNOW

Table Activity: Make a table that shows the difference between the lives of Spartan men and Spartan women. You can use information from other resources to complete your table.

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